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Some facts from THE HISTORY Of

the USA

At daybreak on the morning of Friday, August 3 1492, an Italian adventurer named Christopher Columbus set sail from Spain to find a new way from Europe to Asia. His aim was to open up a shorter trade route between the two continents. In Asia, he intended to load his three small ships with silks, spices and gold, and sail back to Europe a rich man.

Columbus first sailed south to the Canary Islands. Then he turned west across the unknown waters of the mid-Atlantic Ocean., on the morning of October 12, he stepped ashore on the beach of a low sandy island. He named the island San Salvador-Holy Savior. Columbus believed that he had landed in the Indies, a group of islands close to the mainland of India. For this reason he called the friendly, brown-skinned people who greeted him "los Indios" - Indians. In fact, Columbus was not near India. It was not the edge of Asia that he had reached, but islands off the shores of a new continent. Europeans would soon name this continent America. It is also called «New World» sometimes.

Why is America called "America?"

Why did European geographers give the name America to the lands that Columbus discovered? Why did- they not name them instead after Columbus?

The reason is that to the end of his life Columbus believed that his discoveries were part of Asia. The man who did most to correct this mistaken idea was Amerigo Vespucci. Vespucci was an Italian sailor from the city of Florence. During the late 1490s he wrote some letters in which he described two voyages of exploration that he had

made along the coasts of South America. He was sure, he wrote, that these coasts were part of a new continent.

Some years later Vespucci's letters were read by a German scholar who was revising an old geography of the world. The letters convinced the scholar that Vespucci was correct, and that the lands beyond the Atlantic were a new continent. To honor Vespucci the scholar named them America,

The Pilgrims

"Pilgrims" are people who make a journey for religious reasons. But for Americans the word has a special meaning. To them it means a small group of English men and women who sailed across the Atlantic Ocean in the year 1620. The group's members came to be called the Pilgrims because they went to America to find religious freedom. Sometimes Americans call them the Pilgrim Fathers. This is because they consider them as the most important of the founders of the future United States of America.

The Europe that the Pilgrims left behind them was torn by religious quarrels. For more than a thousand years Roman Catholic Christianity had been the religion of most of its people. By the sixteenth century, however, some Europeans had begun to doubt the teachings of the Catholic Church. They were also growing angry at the wealth and worldly pride of its leaders

Few people believed in religious toleration at this time. They didn’t want to have the religion as their ruler (Henry VIII). They wanted the Church of England to become more plain and simple, or "pure." Because of this they were called Puritans. The ideas of John Calvin appealed particularly strongly to them.

Few people believed in religious toleration at this time. They didn’t want to have the religion as their ruler (Henry VIII). They wanted the Church of England to become more plain and simple, or "pure." Because of this they were called Puritans. The ideas of John Calvin appealed particularly strongly to them.

When James I became King of England in 1603 he warned the Puritans that he would drive them out the land if they did not accept his ideas on religion. His bishops began fining the Puritans and putting them in prison. To escape this persecution, a small group of them left England and went to Holland. Holland was the only country in Europe whose government allowed religious freedom at this time.

The people of Holland welcomed the little group of exiles. But the Puritans never felt at home there. After much thought and much prayer they decided to move again. Some of them-the Pilgrims-decided to go to America.

Pilgrim Fathers

The Pilgrims' ship was an old trading vessel, the Mayflower. For years the Mayflower had carried wine across the narrow seas between France and England. Now it faced a much more dangerous voyage. For sixty-five days the Mayflower battled through the rolling waves of the north Atlantic Ocean. At last, on November 9, 1620, it reached Cape Cod, a sandy hook of land in what is now the state of Massachusetts

The Mayflower Compact

When the Pilgrims arrived off the coast of America they faced many dangers and difficulties. They did not want to put themselves in further danger by quarreling with one another. Before landing at Plymouth, therefore, they wrote out an agreement. In this document they agreed to work together for the good of all. The agreement was signed by all forty-one men on board the Mayflower. It became known as the Mayflower Compact. In the Compact the Plymouth settlers agreed to set up a government-a "civil body politic"-to make "just and equal laws" for their new settle­ment.

The First Thanksgiving

In November 1621, Pilgrims sat down to eat together and to give thanks to God for enabling them to survive the hardships of their first year in America.
The Pilgrims were joined at their feast by local Amerindians. The people of the nearby forests had shared corn with the Pilgrims and shown them the best places to catch fish. Later the Amerindians had given seed corn to the English settlers and shown them how to plant crops that would grow well in the American soil. Without them there would have been no Thanksgiving

COLONIAL LIFE IN AMERICA
The New England Colonies

By the year 1733 the English owned thirteen separate colonies along the Atlantic coast of North America. The colonies stretched from New Hampshire in the north to Georgia in the south. Most people divided them into three main groups. Each group had its own way of life and character.

In the far north was the New England group, centered on Massachusetts. Since the time of the Pilgrims the people of New England had spread inland and along the coast. Most were small farmers or craftsmen, working the stony soil and governing themselves in small towns and villages.

Other New Englanders depended on the sea for a living. They felled the trees of the region's forests to build ships. In these they sailed to catch cod or to trade with England and the West Indies. Boston and other coastal towns grew into busy ports. Their prosperity depended on trade.

The Middle Colonies

The nearest colonies to the south of New England were called the Middle Colonies. The biggest were New York and Pennsylvania. As in New England, most of their people lived by farming. But in the cities of New York and Philadelphia there were growing numbers of craftsmen and merchants. Philadelphia was the capital of Pennsylvania. By 1770 it was the largest city in America, with 28,000 inhabitants.

The people of the Middle Colonies were usually more tolerant of religious and other differences than the New Englanders. Many of them also had German, Dutch or Swedish ancestors rather than English ones.

The Southern Colonies

The Southern Colonies of Virginia, the Carolinas and Georgia formed the third group. In their hot and fertile river valleys wealthy landowners farmed large plantations. They lived in fine houses, with wide, cool verandahs from which they could look out over their fields of tobacco or cotton. Most of the work in the fields was done by black slaves. Slavery was rare in the other American colonies. But the prosperity of the plantation-owning southerners was already beginning to depend upon it.

The houses of the southern plantation owners had expensive furniture, much of it imported from Europe.

Activities

I. Choose the right variant

1. Christopher Columbus was … adventurer

Spanish

English

Italian

2. C. Columbus stepped ashore on the beach of a new island on …

October 12, 1492

November 12, 1493

October 22, 1492

3. Columbus thought that he reached …

America

Africa

India

4. How do Europeans call America?

«New World»

«New Nation»

«New Country»

5. «Mayflower» is …

a flower

a ship

an island

6. The first people to celebrate

Thanksgiving were …

Indians

The Pilgrims

Christopher Columbus people

7. Mayflower Compact is …

a document

a letter

a ship

8. A small group of English men and women who sailed across the Atlantic Ocean in the year 1620 was called …

«pilgrims»

new founders

explorers

9. Why is America called America?

because its first people were Amerindians

In honor an Italian sailor Amerigo Vecpucci

II. Match the sentences (there is one extra line)

1). «Pilgrims» are people

2). The Europe that the Pilgrims left behind

3). When James I became King of England in 1603

4). Few people believed in

5). On November, 9, 1620 the Pilgrims

6). People who wanted the church of England to become more plain, or «pure»

7). The pilgrim’s ship was

was torn by religious quarrels

he warned the Puritans that he would drive them from the land if they didn’t accept his ideas of religion.

were called Puritans

religious toleration

who make a journey for religious reasons.

an old trading vessel, the Mayflower.

reached a new continent

were named «Indians»

III. Give a title (A, B, or C) for each text (1, 2, 3)

The people lived in fine houses, with wide, cool verandahs from which they could look out over their fields of tobacco or cotton. Most of the work in the fields was done by black slaves.

Most of their people lived by farming. But in the cities of New York and Philadelphia there were growing numbers of craftsmen and merchants. Philadelphia was the capital of Pennsylvania

In the far north were colonies, centered on Massachusetts. Since the time of the Pilgrims, the people of these colonies had spread inland and along the coast. Most were small farmers or craftsmen, working the stony soil and governing themselves in small towns and villages.

The New England colonies

The Southern Colonies

The Middle Colonies

3

2

1

A

B

C

Vocabulary
Choose the correct word (according to the texts you have read)